#47 A conversation about accessibility, opportunity, and protecting the future of online business

Show Notes

In this episode, Steph shares the realization that opportunity often comes with barriers many people don't see.

From caregivers and parents to people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, financial limitations, and countless other responsibilities, not everyone has the same ability to travel, attend conferences, or spend days away from home.

That doesn't make them any less deserving of access to the information, relationships, and education that help businesses grow.

This episode explores:

1. Why in-person events are making such a strong comeback
2. The opportunities that happen through real-world connection
3. The hidden privilege behind "just get in the room"
4. Why protecting the integrity of online business matters
5. How accessibility impacts entrepreneurship
6. Why Steph created the Relentlessly Real Business Panel

Because building a healthy business community means making sure opportunity doesn't only belong to the people who can board the plane.

Grab your ticket to the June panel:

https://www.stephrubio.com/relentlessly-real-business-panel

Continue the conversation - join Steph's email community:

https://stephrubio.myflodesk.com/letsconnect

Memorable Moments

"Ten minutes talking to you and I know more about you than six months online."

"Not everyone can get in the room physically. That doesn't make them any less deserving of the information."

"Working online and building virtual businesses has changed lives."

"If someone can attend fifteen events and I can attend two or three, the growth trajectory changes."

"We have to keep this information accessible to people who need it, want it, deserve it, and simply have different life circumstances."

"When we keep the online industry healthy, people stay in business. And when people stay in business, we all have business."

Key Takeaways

In-Person Connection Matters

Relationships often accelerate faster face-to-face than they do online.

Access Is Not Equal

Not everyone has the same freedom, resources, caregiving support, health, finances, or circumstances.

Online Business Changed Lives

Remote entrepreneurship created opportunities for parents, caregivers, and people who otherwise may never have been able to participate in traditional business environments.

We Need Both

The future isn't choosing between online and in-person experiences. It's creating both.

Accessibility Is a Business Issue

Making information available only through expensive or inaccessible channels limits who gets to grow.

What is Rooted & Relentless?

Rooted & Relentless is the business strategy podcast for entrepreneurs building service-based businesses designed to grow, adapt, and last. Business strategist Steph Rubio shares practical guidance on a range of topics meant to help you sell, scale, and stabilize.
Think sustainable business growth, revenue strategy, systems, capacity, client experience, and the founder leadership required to turn your skills into a successful, sustainable company.

Steph Rubio: Okay, for like a year, maybe more now, we've heard repeatedly that in-person events are on the rise, people are craving connection again. ⁓ and that's true. Like ⁓ spotted this trend in 2024 myself because we were and I've talked about this a lot, right? We were in this wave of engaging for the sake of engaging. It's why people got over like frankly Instagram specifically really quick, because everybody's constantly gaming the algorithm ⁓ and were in that period where it's like engage for fifteen to thirty minutes. ⁓ Well, that's a wrap on this episode of Rooted and Relentless. If it made you laugh, nod alone, or grab that cute little notebook of yours and scribble something down, hit me with the SSR, subscribe, share, and review. As in, leave a review. Thanks for hanging. Bye. You go find targeted accounts based on hashtags and you and everybody was like leaving three emojis. And it was like not real conversation. It was falling flat. And then more people did that, rinse, repeat, and it just became nonsense really quick. And we had been working from home for years at that point, right? We had COVID, we were quite literally locked down. A lot of people came into the online space at that point, me as well, and freaking loved working from home in our little home offices for years, right? And it got to the point where like creativity was stifled, growth was stifled. I've explained this a lot in the way of like ⁓ you couldn't like walk across the hall and grab an idea from your coworker anymore. It was like, hey, I I've been doing this, but I couldn't figure it out and I did this way and that way. And then they're like, ⁓ yeah, I tried this and that. And in a matter of five minutes, you learned something new, you f did something different, and you couldn't do that anymore. And so that's actually one of the reasons I created my mastermind. I talked about a lot of like recreate your leadership team, right? Recreate your co-workers and employees and don't stifle your growth and creativity sitting in your home office alone. You just can't. But also people are craving in-person connection again. I went to an event last month, ⁓ Power Table Live specifically, and at the speaker's dinner the first night we were there, there was such a great conversation about how like in-person conversation fast tracks your ⁓ opportunities, whether that's selling, whether that's collaboration or whatever, like one person said specifically like 10 minutes talking to you, I know more about you than six months online. Like we've been in a group chat together, but it's too busy for me to keep up, and there's all these people, but I can talk to you to five or ten minutes and I'll remember your face, I remember your name, I remember what you do, I remember you made me laugh. And it's so much easier to work with people. So there's a reason why this is on the rise. But there's a key piece here that I have become ferocious in protecting, and that is that everyone cannot get in the room physically. They just can't for different reasons, which I'll talk about in a second. And that doesn't mean that they're any less deserving of access to the information that people are getting in those rooms. Working online, starting virtual businesses, has changed the lives of thousands of people. Mothers were able to be home with their kids more. Parents are able to pick them up from school, able to cut commuting time and spend more time with them, able to do more things around the house so that they're not doing that. People with ailments or disabilities, whether physically or mentally, cannot be in that room, whereas they can absolutely have an online business and serve people and make money and have these different freedoms for their businesses. Other people are caretakers, myself included. We moved my brother in with us last year. He is physically disabled and requires complete care: eating, feeding, toiletries, the full shenanigans. And we don't have health care in this country for people like him that allows me to leave town and get the support I need or even get a freaking break and avoid burning out as a caregiver, which I am absolutely on the verge of. But it means that I can't just leave town all the time. We don't have a village here. We don't have people who can care for him. We don't have people who can care for our kids without driving five and a half hours out of town or my husband having to take off work. So these things happen, right? But they're limited. Also though, I was leaving that event last month and someone had been on Instagram in their stories, tagging people that they know online, like me and others, so excited to see us in the room, so excited to see us ⁓ you know, being there together and wishing they could. And I was like, ⁓ it was incredible. I was on the way home, you know, it was incredible. You should totally come next time. And this person was like, Well, I would love to, but I can't. I have a young kiddo, ⁓ like two and a half years old and no care and I can't leave town. And it just like settled as a weight in my chest because I had also spent All weekend, I mean the whole time we were at this event saying that to people, I'm so grateful this event's an hour for me, an event of this caliber and magnitude because I can drive and it made it much easier to leave town. But my in-law still had to come for five and a half hours to make that possible. So if you add a plane to that and going out of town for a longer, more extended period of time, it just becomes more difficult or more impossible. And it changes the growth trajectory for me. Right, than other people who can go to these events. So if we know that events fast track and these conversations and this opportunity and this knowledge fast tracks your ability to grow your business. And someone can go to 15 events and I can only go to two or three, then that automatically looks like they're going to be able to outgrow me. And that's hard to let settle in your bones, you know? It almost feels like unfair in a way. ⁓ and so that one key piece for me is that knowing people That having online businesses and virtual businesses, the flexibility and the freedom in that has quite literally changed lives reminds me one that we have to protect the integrity of the online space. And that's from a conversation and an information standpoint, period, and the integrity of the space and the honesty and people being able to trust where they spend their time, energy, and money. ⁓ and so that's a passionate component I have and why I talk about things so publicly frequently so that people get the information they need and it's not harmful, it's accurate, it's helpful and things like that. And then there's also the other side of it is that we have to keep this information accessible. And the way I've chosen to do that is virtually a virtual panel every single quarter. And we have to at the same token keep that information accessible to people who need it, who want it, who deserve it, and just have different life circumstances, preventing them from getting it in the same manner as maybe you can. So the virtual panel is meant to solve a couple of these. It's quarterly, which again might make me crazy. But I want it to be information, I want it to be conversation that's helpful, that's relevant, that's actually stuff that's going on that we're talking about. And it's not stuff that's online that you aren't certain you can trust or you just miss because the algorithm pushes it in different ways. I want a sure place to land at sure intervals you can count on with people that you can count on to have conversations that are actually just going to help you get better, either gain more knowledge, move differently, know more, implement something differently. And I am really passionate about keeping it accessible. So while I am love in-person events, I am hosting my first in person event myself later this year, a retreat to plan ahead for businesses, to gather founders and CEOs of their businesses and do planning. I'm so excited about. I know not everyone can do that. I know not everyone can go to conferences. And I still want that ex information accessible. And I chose to do it in a panel because I think that that helps in this time of AI when people can craft perfect things they want to say and practice it for months. Also fine. I want it to be a panel because that's raw and that's real and that's straight out of the brain of people practicing and doing these things in real time. If you have not found a home for conversations like this yet, and even if you have, I encourage you to grab a ticket to the Relentlessly Real Business panel, Popping off for the first time June 25th, 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Central. It's going to be a mix of me asking panelist conversations and spitballing, disagreeing when we disagree respectfully, and also some QA time. So you'll be able to just ask your questions right on the spot. And you can come help me create a space that keeps the online industry healthy for everyone here. Because when we keep it healthy, people can stay in business. And when people stay in business, we all have business.