Five years ago, the company I had founded stalled. We wanted bigger, more exciting and more complex problems to solve with a bigger and better team. But with negligible sales experience, and a limited budget to hire top talent, I didnt really know how to make it happen.
The answer, we discovered (almost by accident), was to put our people, friends and community first.
By focussing on real-life community building as a core part of a successful business strategy businesses of all kinds can:
- Attract and retain great talent that believes in their mission
- Generate more sales without needing salespeople
- Create more happiness and fulfillment for everyone involved
Building strong communities benefits the entire business ecosystem - just look Silicon valley, NYC and Toronto. With a strong community, were able to raise the bar and improve the overall quality of work, the return on investment, and thus support the economics of bigger projects, more investment and top talent. The rising tide, as they say, lifts all boats.
7. How community helped our
business.
And how it could help yours.
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8. So, what is community?
A group living in the same place or having a
particular characteristic in common.
A feeling of fellowship with others as a result
of sharing common attitudes, interests, and
goals.
A group of interdependent organisms of
different species growing or living together
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21. The Prisoners Dilemma
2 prisoners asked to inform on each other
Both inform on the other = Both get 3 years in prison
Both players cooperate with each other = Both get 1
year in prison.
One player informs while the other player cooperates
= Informer gets off free and the cooperator gets 5
years in prison.
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22. For cooperation to prove stable,
the future must have a sufficiently
large shadow. The importance of
the next encounter between the
same two individuals must be
great enough to make
[noncooperation] an unprofitable
strategy.
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23. Conduct business at the
intersections of interests and
practices. Community
happens there.
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27. The results
Attract and retain great talent.
Find good work, with good
people, even if youre not
salespeople
Get invited to cool events
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28. Building a community puts
people first and makes you
happier. Thats the best goal
unto itself.
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30. Event planning
Hand pick 50 - 80 good people to invite, tell them to
RSVP and bring friend.
Promote in places you know your community will
take notice
Structure for content and conversation
Use real wine glasses
Follow up with a thank you, an invite to the
subscriber list for future events, and a link to the
photos that were taken.
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31. This isnt a zero sum game.
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32. Greater community increases
the velocity of information
transfer. Greater interaction
and idea flow generates
greater innovation,
entrepreneurial activity, ideas
and growth.
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34. Taking action
Commit resources to finding and supporting
your community.
Identify the things you are passionate about
and host a meetup or event of your own
Spend your free time attending community
events
Give willingly
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35. No man is an island, entire of
itself; every man is a piece of
the continent, a part of the
main.
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36. No business is an island,
entire of itself; every business
is a piece of the community, a
part of the main.
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