This is My Year of Community

What You’ll Learn…

[9:29] Why is this my year of community?
[10:46] My Word of 2019: Visibility
[12:08] My Word of 2020: Growth
[14:08] My Word of 2021: Community
[15:52] Why is growing a small community important to me?
[21:35] How am I going to make this the year of community? 

Why Is This My Year of Community?
Listen at [09:29]

In the past, I’ve avoided coming up with a word to describe the year, even although I’ve seen many other people do it.

I wasn’t sure that it was possible to assign one word to describe the whole year, with so many ups and downs. They have the capacity to change so much.

But recently, I started to realise that having a focus for the year was really important, particularly to me because I can be a little bit scatterbrained. I’ve got loads of ideas running around my head, and my focus can be a little bit all over the place.

So in 2019, I decided that I was going to give that year a name. And loads of amazing things came true, because of that word. Probably because it was the main focus for the year.

I’d love to know if you’ve ever done this and if so what is your word for 2021?

My Word of 2019: Visibility
Listen at [10:46]

Going back to 2019, my word was visibility. I am a bit of an introvert, and I wanted to hide away. It took a bit of effort to force myself to go to conferences, and I just wanted to stay on my own.

In 2018, I spoke at a few conferences including Social Media Marketing World, but I was hiding a bit.

So, 2019 was my year of visibility.

“I wanted to get out there, be seen at conferences and do a lot more live video, so that people could see who I am and get to know me as well”

I ended up speaking at 10 conferences all around the world. In fact, I probably ended up doing a little too much, but my word worked. It helped me focus on what I wanted out of the year.

My Word of 2020: Growth
Listen at [12:08]

2020, was of course, a very difficult year for many people. And like everyone else, I had no idea what was going to happen until it did.

But pretty early on I decided to focus on growth, including personal development, mindset and business growth.

2020 has been difficult, and despite being an introvert, I’ve found it very hard not to be able to meet up with and hug friends and family. I’m a hugger, just in case you didn’t know.

However, being at home allowed me to focus on my business, on properly growing it rather than focusing on vanity statistics.

2020 was a very big year for the growth of my confidence, which I hope that you’ve been able to see if you are a regular listener of the show.

But it’s also been a great year for my business, and I’ve been able to help other businesses with their confidence in getting in front of the camera. So that’s been amazing.

I’ve been able to delegate things that I’ve been wanting to do for ages, and I’ve been able to hire quite a few people to help with the aspects of our business that I don’t enjoy or are not very good at.

2020 was a year when I was able to be a lot more consistent as well. So it was amazing that that focus on my business really helped me and so that that was 2020.

My Word of 2021: Community
Listen at [14:08]

At the end of last year I decided that I wanted to continue to be consistent and organised with my content. So for example, I’m going to be sending an email absolutely every single Friday.

But I wanted my main focus to be on my community. I think community is everything.

In 2021, I want to focus on growing an audience the right way. I want to avoid the vanity statistics, which so easily sucker us in.

I want to build a smaller audience of truly invested people. Who want to hear from me, and who want to work with me.

Why Growing A Small Community Is Important To Me?
Listen at [15:52]

A couple of years ago, I had a mailing list of over 20,000 people. That might not seem like a lot to some people, but I think it was quite a big number.

I grew that mailing list really quickly using content, through my live videos, and through my blog post.

The problem was that the vast majority of the people on that list weren’t really interested in what I was doing.

“I sent them emails, and they weren’t opening them. They were not interested, they weren’t the right audience.”

So, over the last two years, I’ve actually slashed that list down to around 8000.

And now, the people that subscribe to my mailing list are people who actually really love what I do. And I’m much more interested in a smaller number of passionate people.

“I’m interested in building a community of passionate people around my live shows, podcasts and my email list.”

I don’t want to follow and be seduced by the vanity statistics.

How Am I Going To Make This The Year Of Community?
Listen at [21:35]

The first and most important thing, which we tend to forget, is mindset. I talk a lot about mindset on this show because I think it’s so crucial to our success.

Confidence, and really lack of confidence, was such a big issue for me in loads of areas of my life, but particularly my business until I went on this mindset journey.

So first of all, you need to know why this is going to be so important what your goal is. And then you need to stick to it and avoid getting sucked into social media comparisons. Which, is easier said than done.

And of course, you’ve got to find out where your tribe is so that you can nurture those connections. With Restream I can see where people are watching – so I know where I need to focus my energies. This then allows me to build my communities on those platforms over time.

Then, you need to engage with them, don’t be a one-way communication machine.

“The most important person in your content is your audience. So make them feel special.”

Don’t be afraid to get some help to engage with your community. I have my VA, Tonia, and you can hire a community manager as well.

But remember that you just can’t scale a high level of engagement, which is why I like to keep my community small and engaged. But with some help, you can be as valuable as possible to as many people as possible.

Clubhouse is something I’ll be talking about next week, but I think it’s a great way to build a community and to facilitate small, intimate gatherings.

Resources:

Restream
Thou shalt prosper: Rabbi Daniel Lapin