Meet Ann Marlin

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ann Marlin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ann, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?

I come from a long line of entrepreneurs so I believe my ability to take risk comes directly from my immediate family and the generations before them. I was born and raised in Great Falls, Montana where my mom’s side comes from ranching and farming. Their ranch has been in the family for 3 generations. Ranchers and farmers, who are stewards of this country’s land, are hands down the most hardworking and dedicated entrepreneurs I am aware of. My grandfather on my dad’s side owned 3 gas stations during the war when ration stamps were in use and went on to own a car dealership and real estate office. He was highly respected in his community for his honesty, reliability and good business practices.
My father has always owned his own businesses in which I worked at from the age of 14. He started out in selling recreational real estate and then moved into ownership of a bar/restaurant, numerous apartment buildings, storage facility and golf course. I have been in the school of entrepreneurship my whole life! I watched the challenges, wins, losses, success and strategy which developed my threshold for risk and that ultimately led me down the entrepreneurial path. All the skills, mindset, hard work and having the belief in myself has enabled me to analyze risk in a very pragmatic way.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My current focus is two-fold. I am the owner and manager of a super cool cowork space called Broadway Collective in the SOBO area of Englewood. We champion small business and solopreneurs and want to offer a home for all bad-ass businesses! The Collective was born from our need of more office space for our other company that does real estate investing called ELEVATION. Here we do fix and flips, transparent wholesaling, education and partnership flips. I am also a licensed Realtor so was able to procure our mid-mod building in Jan of 2022. We knew the space was too big for our current company so we thought what better way to utilize the space than create a design-forward haven for all business owners to house and build their business and host their clients.
We love to connect, collaborate, and grow with other like-minded people and businesses. The Collective offers fully furnished private office spaces, dedicated desks, podcast room and conference rooms for businesses to grow and thrive. Perfect for solopreneurs, small businesses, and satellite offices. We wanted to design a space where people were excited to come to work and had all the amenities and environment to enhance productivity, creativity and collaboration. We have an amazing member community that is truly one-of-a-kind and who are downright just cool people. We believe our brand and story, community and offerings are what attract like-minded and forward-thinking businesses and entrepreneurs.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three qualities and skills that come to mind are organization, follow through, and willingness to learn. The more organized you are, the more efficient and able you are to execute, plan or pivot as situations and challenges arise. For me, feeling unorganized makes me feel scattered and unable to make fully informed or educated decisions. I like to have all the information in front of me and accessible at a moment’s notice.
Follow through is perhaps one of the most important and can make the difference of a deal, sale or business move successful or not. In our world now, people do not return calls or emails and oftentimes fall short of doing the job that they were hired to do. Simply doing your job to the best of your ability which means conducting yourself with professionalism, timeliness and awareness gives anyone a leg up and can lead to promotions and personal success. This can also be taken as following through completely on a task, plan or idea. If you don’t complete it, you will never know the outcome and how to learn from the experience.
Willingness to learn can be humbling to some people. There are always people out there that have done more, learned more, and executed more in any industry that you are currently working in. Why not tap into their knowledge and experience to better yourself and glean from the experts? With this being said, my best advice is to find a mentor that will advise and assist you professionally and personally for the best results.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

Our ideal client for the Broadway Collective are entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, small business and companies that have satellite offices that are looking for private offices or cowork space that has a great community. In addition, any company that is looking to relocate or in need of a workspace to grow and thrive. Our community is comprised of collaborative and influential members in their own industries that love to support small businesses.
The Collective is built to champion all businesses by supplying space, amenities, MeetUps and events where we partner with businesses to put out amazing education and networking opportunities.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.broadwaycollectiveco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/broadwaycollectiveco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BroadwayCollectiveCo/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broadway-collective
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BroadwayCollective/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/broadway-collective-englewood

Image Credits

Rosy Heart Photos, Travis Whirley