Category: CommunityCategory: Community

I wrote that maybe you don’t need more subscribers in early 2024:

“Setting a timer for 15 minutes and communicating with real people five days a week will probably get you more results than the hour you spend making one Reel for 153 “people” to see (and which will never be seen again after 12 hours).”

I re-sent this post to my email subscribers a year later (here), and someone replied that they were going to start reaching out to some people directly. A week later, they left this update:

“To report back ten days of scheduled reaching out to people every single day. I might have a job? Also new contacts and fun things to look forward to? What?!”

We’re always seeking new, getting more, growing, expanding, but there are so many people in our creative orbit, and most of them don’t even know about your latest work, your new project, or the big offering that you rolled out last week.

Following up is a strategy. You’re not trying to cast a large net, you’re focusing on who’s already in your world.

I spoke with Steph Benedetto of The Awakened Business today, about focusing your precious time on things that actually work.

Taking an hour to make a video to post on Instagram that 95% of your audience will never see might not be the best use of your time.

• Replying to some emails might take just a few minutes and net you bigger results
• Getting in touch with people who do the things you’re seeking to do
• Sending notes to people you admire might open some doors.

Posting on social media is easy and quick and gets you off the hook – “hey, I did something today!”

But sending one email to somebody is hard, because the person might not write back, or they might let you down.

One is a lottery ticket, but the other has better odds. You don’t need 10,000 likes, you just need a few good people in your creative orbit to change your life.

An email showed up with a photograph of a moose, sent to me and three other smart, talented, whimsical folks. The subject line was “moose mail.”

It’s been a month of occasional life updates, venting, supporting. The whole time we’re like, “what is this?”

Maybe community doesn’t need to be on a platform, or require another login and password. Maybe community can show up in our inbox. Maybe it can’t scale to 8 people or 12 or 100, and that’s okay.

What if scale wasn’t just measured in numbers or reach, but rather depth, trust, and good vibes?

How does community gather without a platform, without a feed, without notifications? I think we know already know the answer, but the Unholy Trinity has done a good job of making us forget.

Maria Popova started Brain Pickings “in 2006 as an email to seven friends.”

The left sidebar is titled “donating = loving,” and goes on to say “If you find any joy, solace, and inspiration here, please consider a donation.”

No tiers, no levels, no free tote bag, no bonus content.

In a recent Zoom call, Shelley told a story about going to the book store, and a kind stranger giving her quarters to buy the kids some books, to which she initially refused. She eventually took the coins, and her daughter told her afterwards, “don’t ever refuse prosperity.”

If we don’t give our readers a chance to donate, we are literally refusing prosperity.

Set up a Buy Me a Coffee account, and Ko-Fi, and a Patreon – why not? Lots of people use different services. To get the ball rolling, let people give you money in a way that’s comfortable for them.

Remind them of their options, send them links on occasion, subtle reminders.

There are people who want to support the work you do in its present form, without extra content or behind the scenes material.

If you enjoy my work, you can buy me a coffee via Ko-Fi, PayPal, Cash App, and Venmo. You can also become a Social Media Escape Club Member here, and buy my HUNTERTHEN music here.

My Mini Escape Pod’s (the weekly Zoom calls I do with members) are kept small so we can dig into each others challenges, and get to know more about one another. Today’s call was no different, where I had a great chat with one person for an hour.

We talked about charging our worth for our offerings, and bolstering the belief in our work through our decades of experience. Not taking for granted the many chapters of our own lives, and realizing that those times in our lives bring valuable (and quirky) perspectives that not many other people can bring!

In a broader sense, this can apply to not just how we show up, but where. Since deleting all my social media accounts (except Substack Notes, ahem), there are only a few places to find me. Even fewer ways to actually reach me! But that’s by design, and you can experiment with that, too!

In fact, if you’re not on TikTok or Twitter, you’re already experimenting!

You simply don’t need to be everywhere, all the time, for everyone.