The Success Nuggets

Success Nuggets #39 - Revitalising Communities Through Heart-Led Entrepreneurship with Lyndsey Clay

• David Abel • Season 2 • Episode 18

Share episode

What if the secret to revitalising a community lies in the heart and spirit of entrepreneurship? 

Join us as we explore this intriguing possibility with Lyndsey Clay, the spirited force behind Connected Brighton. 

A native of the city, Lyndsey's passion for fostering connections and uplifting local businesses shines through as she shares her entrepreneurial journey marked by resilience and adaptability. 

Learn how her heart-led approach has not only supported the city's economy post-lockdown but also addressed the pressing issue of loneliness by bringing people together.

Through a combination of social and business clubs, Lyndsey is redefining what it means to be an entrepreneur with purpose. 

Nugget of the day “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has” - Margaret Mead 

With thanks to One Golden Nugget and Maxwell Preece for editing, support and artwork


Speaker 2:

Amazing, amazing wisdom entrepreneurs success, success around the world.

Speaker 1:

This is the Success Nuggets podcast. Have you ever wondered what you could learn and how inspired you'd be if you asked incredible people from around the world about the patterns that drive progress? Get ready to dive into a world of insights and inspiration, of insights and inspiration. This is the Success Nuggets Podcast, with the founder of the Digital Lightbulb and your host, david Abel.

Speaker 3:

Hi folks, david, here with another short but significant insight into a guest who has made their mark in the industry. Well, that's the plan, anyway, and planning lies at the heart and core of Lindsay Clay's career. Let's meet her right now. Lindsay, where are you today?

Speaker 2:

I'm in sunny Brighton.

Speaker 3:

To say you're in Brighton would be an understatement, because you're at the core of many incentives in the vibrant city on England's south coast. Does that reflect in your personality?

Speaker 2:

I think so. Yeah, because the thing for me is like everything I do at the moment is all about how I can help people in my city have the best possible time by supporting local businesses, helping people flourish, whether they are here to make new friends or they're here to grow their brand, coming to visit. I'm like what can I do? How can I make this a better experience for everybody? So I suppose as part of that then yes, that does just come from my natural personality of being social butterfly and enjoying nice things and good people.

Speaker 3:

And in terms of it like being a social project as well. I think you do resonate with Brighton business and brand leaders.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, 100%. We have a social club and we have a business club. So the thing for me was the holistic view of actually how do we help the city thrive? And it started off originally just taking people out post lockdown to make new friends and put money into hospitality. And then I see we're nearly four years old now. I can't believe that lockdown ended four years ago in April and from there we've just grown to realise actually we can have a much bigger impact if we help and support and promote, market and advertise local businesses. So we're doing that as well and nurturing them through networking.

Speaker 2:

So we always have, like our social networking for people that want to make new friends and explore and get to know the city they call home, whether they've born here or they've moved here, and then also to put our love into the boutique and unique businesses that make Brighton so special. You know, I always say people don't come to Brighton for Pizza Express, they come here because it is so different to other cities in the UK and I want to keep it that way. I'm a Brighton girl born and bred and it means so much to me that people support the independence and it's been a really tough time since covid and before for those independents to survive. So anything that I can do that supports that I'm going to do because we need people to connect. You know, loneliness is an epidemic and businesses are struggling, so I'm constantly just trying to support those two by bringing them together brilliant, so you're entrepreneurial.

Speaker 3:

What is the most important? Talent in entrepreneurship.

Speaker 2:

We were just talking about being a heart-led business. I think you know passion for what you do will get you further than anything else, and if you're doing something that's very purpose driven and heart-led, it comes from a very different space. So, for me, being called an entrepreneur because when I started my coaching business back in 2017, started training, I didn't think of myself as an entrepreneur, as a coach. But with Connected Brighton, I really love the fact that I have now got that accolade of being an entrepreneur and an award winning entrepreneur. And because I think of things so differently now, I'm constantly looking for opportunities to bolster the business, like how can I get more people in to help them make friends? Because I know that it's needed. How can I get more people in to help them make friends? Because I know that it's needed.

Speaker 2:

You know how can I support more businesses? Because I know it's a struggle. You know how can we get more visitors to the city? Because tourism is so important for us and so, having to, I've got to constantly listen to what's happening and adapt. You know so much has happened since I started connected. It's like relentless, relentless bad news over four years and we're still standing, but I've just had to adapt to that. Where are the threats and how can you constantly flex and adapt to overcome them? So constant waves of challenge, but just trying to ride them each time so that I can continue to learn and grow and evolve and just keep standing and do what we're doing.

Speaker 3:

Before we came on, we were talking about heart intelligence.

Speaker 2:

Just thinking about the heart led, heart versus gut, I think is such an interesting one to look at that heart, head and your gut and how you balance them out. So all of these feelings that we have for people and how our lives go, which I obviously find fascinating, having been an advocate for the fact that we should just embrace the fact that life changes and we don't all follow a standard path. There's not one blueprint everybody.

Speaker 3:

That was eight years ago, because eight years doesn't half go quick sometimes.

Speaker 2:

You know what? Because when I went away on my divorce tour, I lived with my friend in America and I just went back for his wedding. I was best man.

Speaker 2:

It's very exciting, but I was sat on his porch where I spent so much time during the three months I was staying there and I was so broken at the time and I was looking back on the post that I wrote for Not the Blueprint and it was really emotional because I thought I just want to reach back into that time and go and hug her and just tell her that it is going to work out and you are going to be okay and actually you're going to achieve things.

Speaker 2:

If you believe me, if I told you what you're going to do, you wouldn't believe me, because I was so raw in the grief when I was there and to go back there in 2024, being listed in the top 100 female entrepreneurs in the UK and having these amazing businesses and persona and brand and feeling so whole in myself when I was so empty the first time was this amazing 360. For me it feels like that and it feels so positive because I have had a long lead up to this, you know, that foundation of processing all of that grief and owning who I am and being true to myself is what has got me here and which will get me to the next layer, and I can't wait.

Speaker 3:

Have you learned much along the way about trusting your gut and trusting your heart?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I always say for the two businesses that I well, three business I have now they've all come from like the heart and just like that gut drive to think I've got like I have to do this. I felt so driven to do it when this all started from writing a blog after infertility and divorce and it's called Not the Blueprint, and I remember just waking up one morning and being like I have to share this. I have to share my story because I feel so different to everyone else that like really wanted kids and never had them, or really wanted kids and had them, and I didn't really want them but tried for them and then lost everything in the process because I wasn't being true to myself. And I remember that morning so clearly and finding the handle not the blueprint and writing that first post that just says I feel like my fist has breached the rubble, like I've survived this and now I need to share it. But I couldn't not do it and I didn't matter if only 10 people ever saw it Like I had to come out of me and I had to do it.

Speaker 2:

And it was the same with Connected, as soon as I started to realise that I was successful woman in my 40s with a very small social circle, because all my friends are married with kids and we were just going through a pandemic and there was no one around to play with and I had the money to go out and do fun things and I didn't want to do it dating. I just thought other people need this and that just really pushed me. And the more I thought about it, the more I talked to people about it. I was like I can't not do it and I had that same feeling that I had with Not the Blueprint, where it was like this is a thing Like I have be very vulnerable, like both businesses.

Speaker 2:

I obviously talk very openly about my divorce and my infertility and that I'm going through IVF and having miscarriage, and it's because it's really important to make those things normal, because they feel like taboos and they shouldn't be. They're just things that happen to so many people all the time, but they leave you displaced and actually that feeling of displacement can leave you feeling like you're the odd one out, when you're not. There's so many other people that have gone through something similar but unless we storytell and we share, we'd never know. Yeah, right.

Speaker 3:

How many years ago was it then? You rebuilt everything oh.

Speaker 2:

So my marriage ended in 2014 and then I did so. I had two weird years. I wasn't really sure who I was, where I was and what direction I was floating in. And then I remember reading the Secret and feeling like, oh, I have no direction, I get it now. And then I started writing Not the Blueprint in 2017 and I went on what I call my divorce tour Snack Nap Hope after Eat Love Pray and it was during that time where I was writing the blog and I was getting lots of followers and I thought, actually there's something in this and I can really help people, that could I help people more? And that's when I discovered coaching, and then the rest of the journey unfolded from there.

Speaker 3:

What patterns create progress? What do you lean on or what things, time and time again, do you see creating progress?

Speaker 2:

always talk about doing my affirmations and wondering what Madonna's affirmations would be and that all she needs to know is that she's Madonna and that's the only thing she needs to write on her list and I'm the same. I put I am Lindsay Clay, whenever I'm writing my like empowering affirmations or journaling, because I've already got through so much. To get here today and reflecting and looking back on that and celebrating it and using it as fuel to push me forward is a thing that really helps me and I'm being consistent in that All my businesses have been built on my personal story, so there isn't ever going to be a different reason why I'm doing this. It just continues to grow and that is kind of that's like the golden thread within me of what I'm doing and it just reminded me of that kind of purpose at all times and just being really consistent with what I do and how I do it and how I show up.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for sharing that. What is your one golden nugget for life, coach Clay? It would be that you have to be true. You have to be true to yourself. If you do things for other people, you're never going to get the satisfaction that you're looking for. When I look back on the mistakes that I've made or when things haven't gone right for me, I know it's because I was trying to people please, but the person that you need to start with is yourself. It's that classic. You know, put your own life mask on before helping others, because if you're not doing what's right for you, it's really hard to do what's right for others. So trust your gut, follow your heart and do what's right for you and the rest will follow thank you for sharing all your candid insights with us.

Speaker 3:

Where can people find you if they want to come to brighton, and where can people find you if they want to do some coaching, maybe?

Speaker 2:

if you're coming to brighton, then follow us on instagram at connected brighton, or get onto our website, wwwconnectedbrightoncom. You can also download our app, and if you'd like to talk to me about coaching on my journey, then contact me at wwwlindsayclaycom.

Speaker 3:

Wonderful Guys. Another incredible guest, the Queen of Brighton herself, lindsay Clay. Thanks for joining us and we shall see you all again on the next show. Thanks for having me Join David and his incredible guests next time on the Success Nuggets podcast, and to find out more, visit onegoldennuggetcom. Thank you for listening.