Musings on community building

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers

Musings on community building

In the past 4 months, I’ve hosted and facilitated over 40 community events, both individual and group.

Yes, over 40. 😬 And events are just a fraction of what goes into building a community.

I've learned a lot by showing up and doing the work and while I'm not an expert, I am sharing a few of my learnings about community building that could help you if you are considering starting your own.

Enjoy!

It’s about you and not about you.

People join my community because they resonate with me, my story, and my great big heart for humanity. But, to have a great community experience, it must become about them. What starts as me must become a collective we.

How does this happen? It has to be designed and optimized for before the doors open with clear exceptions for engagement and reciprocity. The word community has been corrupted in the age of the creator economy. Community doesn’t mean a transactional, one-sided service, passively consuming, or watching content on demand.

Community means showing up to give and get.

As James Clear says, “greed is wanting the benefits of community without contributing to it."

A lot of the work is invisible.

Often times, your personal success is a long game and subject to the success of the members of your community. Therefore, the long game isn't a game, but a mindset. Invest in their success and it will pay dividends.

You may not be invigorated by this work if you crave the spotlight or recognition. This ultimately is a servant leadership role that is very much behind the scenes. Remember, it is about you and not about you.

Building momentum is different than maintaining it.

In the early days, you must do both. See above on the invisible work.

No community has 100% engagement, most times it’s a balance. Be mindful of where you spend your energy. Disengagement can suck the energy away from the people who are showing up — that is where you want to spend most of your energy. Understand engagement trends so it can inform a strategy to re-engage members who haven’t participated, but time box the re-engagement efforts to several attempts and move on if there is no response. Reinvest and show up for the people who are showing up for you.

Many people ‘see’ the value from the outside but never take action.

This is ok (see above James Clear quote). You are not for everyone and everyone is not for your community.

The missing link here is people often expect an outcome (what’s in it for me?) but fail to recognize that in communities, the outcome is a byproduct of engaging with the experience. You must how up for the experience and the outcome will be revealed to you. What’s in it for you is — you and how you show up and engage.

And, you don’t need to have multiple subscription types. Align it to what you offer and how long it takes to ramp up. I offered a monthly option for a hot second and then remembered that my mission and goal is to build true community and longitudinal support. 30-day subscriptions don’t align with my offering or where the value is, so I removed the option. Do I lose customers who won’t pay for a quarter or year? Probably. And that’s ok.

Comparison is a fool’s game

This is a big space and you can fill it too. The thing your community has that others don’t — is you. The unique differentiator I have — is me, unapologetically.

Keep your head down to the work you are committed to doing and only compare and be competitive with the person you were yesterday to be the better version of you tomorrow.

In a world of noise, the way you stand out is being you.

It’s less about strategy and more about experimentation

Have a strategy and roadmap for the community evolution, but keep it loose, especially in the early days. If you are too prescriptive of your strategy, you lose the chance to let things bubble up organically from within the community. This, in my opinion, is fundamental for listening to your members and building what they need instead of what you want or think they need.

My mantra has always been — I’m not building this for you — you are building this with me. In the same way, there is a difference between being talked at vs talked with. The former is an event, the latter is a community.

Word of mouth can be marketing.

There’s a reason I haven’t invested in marketing. Heck, I don’t even have a functioning webpage, just a landing page for $19 on Carrd. One reason is because I don’t have a budget for any marketing — the budget is my personal bank account 😆, but two, because of the point made above. Things need to develop organically and solidify and that will require evolution. I took Jamie Wilkey’s advice, whom I respect in the creator space, who says to just start with a form as your website until your product is proven. And even then, the best marketing is members within the community referring their own network, in their own words.

Am I losing out on developing a pipeline of potential members? Probably. But my gut says to wait and so I’m waiting. Slow growth is still growth. The significance of impact doesn’t always equate to the size of impact.

Community for the community builders.

I had to add this in post-publishing because of an invigorating and refreshing conversation I had today with a fellow community builder. It’s easy to feel alone on this journey due to the invisible and behind-the-scenes work that can’t always be explained to the members you serve. It’s of utmost importance to find fellow community builders doing the work to collaborate and have a space to talk about the wins and challenges.

Your mental health is paramount to the longstanding health and sustainability of your community.

You must rest and recharge to continue to show up and do the work. You can not pour from an empty cup. You do not need to be available 24/7. Perspective helps. For instance, a yearly membership at $200 is the equivalent of .60 cents a day. Things can wait for you to fuel up and recharge. Care for yourself first before you pour into your community.

So, on that note, I’m off to rest so I can show up recharged and ready for the amazing humans in the care of my community. 💜

There’s still room for more and you better believe if you show up, we will too.

Apply here and I hope to see you there!

When you are ready, there are 3 extra ways I can help:

1. CLINICAL COMMUNITY: Join a curated membership space for clinicians in transitions, clinician creators, and peer support and empowerment.

2. FIND TALENT & OPPORTUNITIES: Are you a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

3. SHARE YOUR STORY: Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story? Collaborate here.