Nowadays cities help me fall asleep. they’re just boring enough to get my brain to shut down on the pillow at 22:00, but interesting enough for me to learn constantly.
How was the city founded? What got it to become a city in the first place? What main economic sectors is it thriving on?
Microcosms are fascinating to me, because I’m trying to rebuild online cities nowadays. That’s right, I’m obsessed with communities.
Probably 1 guess out of 5 on my podcast are community founders. Sales have shifted to “sell me this pen” to “how can I help you write better”.
“High ticket closing”, “funnels” and scarcity tactics are mostly dead. I’m still guilty of talking about these things myself as the old school still influences new school.
Even cool folks like Alex Hormozi are part of a dying school. Sales is not about selling something but more about helping. It’s transitioning fully to product, sooner or later.
Sales will only artificially boost your bottom line for some time, delaying the ultimate truth: product-led growth.
Hence, a community is win+win, in theory. It’s like, how can I help you without expecting anything in return. If anything, we’d measure goodwill and good karma in a near future.
Just like early founders of cities. They traded furs, guns, steels and yes, even germs. They were good intentioned, and that’s how they succeeded in founding the first trade outposts that later became their houses. One was good at making bread, the other at counting stuff, and this guy at protection. Sometimes these cities burned down, and they were quickly rebuilt by the community. Communities are resilient.
Now avoiding fires, germs and ambushes, that’s the question that’s been on my mind with my own communities.
My community faced boredom (lack of value), lack of quality members, no punctuality and general disorganization. So my role as the moderator, whether it’s my mastermind or a LinkedIn chat, is to set the “rules” straight and gently enforce, like a great father would. Easier said than done.
I’m interviewing various community folks on my pod nowadays and will come back with clear answers, structures, softwares, and even possibly a course to teach you my findings about communities. Stay lit.