Category: CommunityCategory: Community

From Ana Roman, in their interview with Thought Enthusiast:

“A hundred times a day I think about artist-owned web spaces and how to build stronger communities that mutually nourish artists and creators… We need cozy web spaces where artists control the platforms, not algorithms designed to extract our labor.“

As I’ve said, maybe centralized kingdoms of power and influence aren’t the answer. It’s time for those in the “creator economy” to work together and take back the means to spreading culture and vibes.

Sharing an hour with a community of like-minded creative people in similar pursuits will give you a greater “return on investment” than spending 45 days per year on social media.

Most people won’t do this because there’s no instant gratification of LIKES or shares.

An artist told me recently they paint with their art friends from around the world four times a week on Zoom, and they’ve been doing it for five years.

I don’t even need to know if that person sold 10 paintings this month, or built their email list to 10,000 people, and I don’t care. Fulfillment and a sense of belonging to something outside of ourselves can’t be measured in a spreadsheet.

Many creative people lose themselves in their phones, spending 3+ hours a day posting, engaging, and replying. Instead of scratching lottery tickets everyday hoping for that big break, put down the phone discover the real payoff with those in your creative orbit.

From my talk with copywriter & strategist Jen Baxter, where we definitely talked about going deeper with our existing audience instead of seeking more.

Instead of 10 posts, what if you just talked to 10 people? Have 10 Zoom calls with people. It’s scary—you don’t know who you might be talking to. But you can select who those 10 people are. If someone’s always commenting on your stuff, that’s probably a good person to DM and say, “Hey, can we hop on a Zoom call?”

Build that group of people to figure out and think about and knock ideas around with, instead of constantly publish, publish, publish and hope something sticks.

Watch the full interview here.

Been thinking a lot about Priya Parker’s idea of group help vs self help concept, and Mel Mitchell-Jackson nails it in in a recent post, ‘on healing our attention and what’s at stake,’

We are all in the midst of unlearning the patterns of screen time from the early pandemic, but putting we’re the blame on ourselves and saying this is just a personal issue to solve.

This ignores the cultural conditions. It ignores that the intention we built with these spaces was to connect with our people. That is the thing that keeps me going back each time I try to stop. Quitting must happen with others.

Deleting an app while sitting alone on the couch with a laptop and big screen TV in front of us might not be the best way to regain our attention, but maybe finding other people in a similar pursuit could help.

A nice note from a former Email Guidance client:

Can I say your suggestion to start hosting zoom calls was a gamechanger over here? I now have a tiny group of people who are on a journey together and are making things happen. I know them and they know me and so much more can happen at that level ❤️ it’s like we’ve done intros already, lets get to work now

Not everyone needs to “post more,” or get more subscribers. Sometimes the magic you’re seeking is in the audience you already have. Get started here.