Collective Ecosystems Over Individual Empires: Building The Portal with Sally Burns

In this episode, I'm joined by Sally Burns, the visionary founder of The Portal Collective. Sally has created a unique digital learning space that rejects the competitive, clicks-driven culture of conventional online courses. The Portal is a place where knowledge flows freely, communities grow organically, and creators are encouraged to collaborate rather than compete.

Sally's journey from 16 years in the corporate e-learning world—including designing courses for a big oil company—to launching a tech startup is a powerful example of what happens when your core pro-social values and your work drift apart.

We discuss the moment that disconnect hit home, how grief and gardening helped her process big life questions, and the radical idea that learning should be a collective, co-created experience. This is an optimistic conversation about challenging giant systems and building something human, hopeful, and better.

You can become a Creator on The Portal with unlimited creation and hosting and a private space on our platform for your community for just £45 + vat. https://collective.jointheportal.com/the-portal

💡 Key Takeaways

• The Disconnect is Real: A deep misalignment can occur when your outside-of-work values (e.g., environmental focus, community) clash with your inside-of-work actions (e.g., corporate roles). This feeling often sparks the pull to purpose.

• Challenge the "Guru" Model: The existing online learning ecosystem, often marketed on earning millions, encourages a hierarchical "one teacher, one lesson" guru model. This structure reinforces the very systems of oppression and hyper-individualism that purpose-driven people are often trying to dismantle.

• Technology Can Be Malleable: You don't have to fully reject technology due to its unethical applications; instead, the focus should be on changing and co-creating it to make it human, supportive, and aligned with ethical values.

• Collaboration Over Competition: The core ethos of The Portal is "Collective Ecosystems Over Individual Empires"11. This is achieved by creating a tool that enables rich co-collaboration, allowing creators to easily integrate or "borrow" each other's work (with permission) for a richer learning experience for their communities.

• Start Before You're Ready: The biggest obstacle people face is feeling their idea has to be fully formed. Start slowly, begin building a community, and be ready to build your idea with them, responding to what they genuinely want and need.

⏱️ Episode Highlights

• 04:36: Sally describes the moment of deep misalignment—being pregnant and flying out to design e-learning for a big oil company while being involved in Extinction Rebellion and environmental causes.

• 06:07: The role of grief, a terminal cancer diagnosis, and gardening in Sally's life, helping her process bigger questions and move away from corporate work.

• 07:46: Sally noticed the "explosion of online courses" during COVID, observing a major gap between what creators wanted to do and the video- and PDF-centric constraints of existing platforms.

• 15:47: The reaction to AI slop and the commodification of the internet leads to a call for new spaces where people can reconnect, learn, and grow together.

• 26:05: What sustains Sally in the face of overwhelm and financial uncertainty: a deep, "ragey" drive to challenge the broligarchy of big tech and provide a tangible, human alternative.

👤 About the Guest: Sally Burns

Sally Burns is the founder of The Portal Collective, a digital learning space focused on collective learning, non-video-based content, and organic community growth.

• Website: http://collective.jointheportal.com

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/join_the_portal/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-burns-a6b637281/

🔗 Episode Links

• You can become a Creator on The Portal with unlimited creation and hosting and a private space on our platform for your community for just £45 + vat. https://collective.jointheportal.com/the-portal

• For The Holders: My free monthly drop-in session for coaches, facilitators, mentors, supervisors, and anyone who holds space for others. RSVP inside The Portal community.

I would love to hear what you think of this episode, so please find me on Linked In (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahfoxcoach/).

This episode was written and recorded by me, and produced by Lucy Lucraft (http://lucylucraft.co.uk )

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