THE SECRET TO BUILDING A REGULAR GATHERING IS DOING THE REGULAR GATHERING

Maybe you tried to do a Substack Live once or twice, nobody showed up, and then you figured it’s a big waste of time. No, screw that, just keep showing up!

When we were talking about this on Saturday (check the schedule for more), and it lines up well with our conversation last week with Sean Gordon, the co-owner of Taffeta Music Hall. They’re not trying to get people to show up for a live stream, but rather live events, like open mics, comedy nights, trivia nights, that sort of thing.

“We’re doing a comedy open mic night the second Wednesday of every month now… the first one, maybe like 10 people showed up. But the comedy… the comics understand, believe me, if anyone understands the growth and success of something, it’s comics.”

If you want to have a regular event where 50 people show up every week, ya gotta start somewhere!

“Those few people that are there, you gotta make sure that they have a good time, and you gotta make sure they come back, because if they’re gonna come back, they’re gonna bring a friend… and then it just kind of snowballs from there.”

Again, Sean is talking about live events, but this applies to live streams, too (and just about everything).

It’s not that no one cares about the thing you’re trying to do, it’s that no one knows! Your job is to just keep showing up, because people can’t discover what doesn’t exist if you quit too soon.

Go live this week, but do more than “just” announcing it once and thinking that everyone saw it. Invite some people personally. Like, individual emails, DMs, or texts. Figure out how to host three people first, to learn and understand how to host a gathering. Make your mistakes in front of just a few (and probably very understanding) people instead of 20 strangers.

You build trust by showing up, and your reputation is built on the work with the people in the room.