Vision, Mission, and Values: Part 1
One of my best friends moved 2000 miles away from me to set up a new life with his family in Colorado. Needless to say, we knew we had to find ways to stay connected. So we decided to plan an adventure trip together and settled on climbing a mountain. Neither of us had any […]
How To Run A Strategy Retreat For Your Organization
It didn’t take long for the celebratory election smiles to fade to confusion and fear as we realized we didn’t know what we would do for the next 12 months. Six people, including myself, were elected into leadership positions in our local National Speaker’s Association chapter. We accepted our new task of running the chapter […]
Dirty Marketing: The Negative Impact of Mixing Marketing with Relationship Building in Business Communities
It felt like he had just dropped a dirty towel into our perfectly purified community, and it didn’t sit right with me or anyone else in the group. As a forum moderator for a community of business owners, I facilitate peer groups for members to learn and grow from each other. For example, one section […]
How To Spot Trending Leaders In Your Community And Keep Them Engaged
I was paying thousands of dollars but wasn’t engaged at all; therefore, I was not getting any value. Two years ago, I received an invitation to join a fatherhood community. Although I paid my membership fees on time each month, I wasn’t very active in the group. It wasn’t a priority for me at the […]
The Key To Successfully Closing Down Your Community
Our regular uplifting monthly meeting had a dark cloud of sadness lingering over it because I felt like I had to say goodbye to eight friends all at once. For the past two years, a community of e-commerce business owners hired us to grow and engage their members. I facilitated several of their monthly meetings, […]
Growing a Community is Never Passive
What started as the magic ingredient needed to save their community became a logistical nightmare. Through a mutual connection, the head of a large community of e-commerce sellers invited me to lunch. The purpose of the meeting was to see if we could help them buck their negative member retention rates. The organization had steadily […]
The Three Core Principles of Member Engagement that Apply To Every Community
Even though I can hold my breath for over three minutes, what could I possibly teach the U.S. Military about engaging their Marines? Marines are known for swimming for hours in freezing cold water while holding heavy weights above their head. I’m known for Free Hugs and my love of peanut butter. So when the […]
Why Strong Communities Have Secret Internal Languages
I joined a virtual community that I thought was about being a better parent, but seeing everyone with bingo numbers in their name almost made me leave, thinking I had entered the wrong zoom room. As a parent, I’m constantly thinking about how to be better because just when I think I’ve mastered the game, […]
The Number One Reason Why Large Communities Fail
The larger your community, the higher the chance of failure unless you have this one tactic in place. Rick Warren, the founder of Saddleback, an evangelical megachurch, began his church at the age of 26. He got off to a great start and was so successful that he had over 10,000 members before his first […]
Deciding When To Pull The Plug On Your Community
I was the captain of a sinking ship, and I didn’t know exactly how to stop my ship from capsizing. A few years ago, I was hired as an engagement growth specialist for an up-and-coming community. When I received the offer to be their executive director, I was overjoyed because it fits perfectly within the […]