We made it, friends, to another Friday!! I try to keep my Fridays light, a gentle off-ramp into the weekend. This one was not that. Deliverables to multiple clients, recording, proposals, and wrapping up our big launch (yes, there's a big launch coming, a whole AI toolkit for Circle AI, and you'll hear plenty about it here). But the thing I can't stop thinking about is something Molli and I landed on this week: I never put work things off. Ever. My health things? Another day, every time. Same brain. Same woman.

In this entry:

• The long Friday: client deliverables, proposals, and the AI toolkit launch wrap-up

• The "health journey," said in that tone on purpose

• The Molli conversation: closing every loop for clients while my own slide

• The sentence I didn't love saying out loud: I treat my clients better than I treat myself

• The special water, the powders, the kiwis, and the first hit of coffee (what a treat)

• Something to noodle on: what would change if you treated yourself like your best client?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, founder wellbeing, launches, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

This week I live demoed inside the Circle community, and to say I was nervous would be an understatement. I said yes immediately when the invite came, easiest yes ever. Then demo day arrived and I felt like I was gonna vomit most of it, while my team and clients filled Slack and my DMs with "you're gonna kill it," which was so kind and somehow cranked the pressure higher. So, did I kill it? Yeah. And then Circle's cofounder posted about it on LinkedIn.

In this entry:

• Live demoing Circle AI inside the Circle community, building a summit live

• When support turns into pressure: everyone deciding you'll be great before you believe it

• The nerves, the practice reps that carried me, and the LinkedIn post I stared at

• The honest Thursday routine report I promised Monday: a 6:30am call, a squeezed morning, and a wobbly floor under a big win

• Something to noodle on: what would you say yes to instantly, and then be terrified about?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, Circle AI, visibility and nerves, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

I hosted a book club get-together this week, and it was meh at best. Basically nobody came. And I want to talk about it, because a fraction of the things I come up with actually work, far more flop than land, and if I only bring you the wins, that's just a highlight reel. So let's take apart what actually went wrong, because it wasn't the book, and it wasn't really the timing either.

In this entry:

• The book club launch that started with real momentum and fizzled by mid-month

• The get-together nobody came to (thanks for the timing, Circle Eclipse)

• The real lesson: they told me what they wanted, I built something bigger than the want

• The most community-builder mistake in the book: giving a spark of interest a clubhouse with bylaws

• Next month's lighter-touch attempt: Unreasonable Hospitality, just announced in the Society

• Something to noodle on: where have you wrapped a real want in too much container?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, engagement experiments, honest flops and fixes, and the in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

As I'm recording this, I should have flown to Seattle to support an old friend at her movie launch. Yes, I have a friend cool enough to have a movie premiere. And I'm at my desk instead, mid-launch on a beast of a client project, after finally admitting my hop-there-hop-back itinerary was delusional. This one stings a little, so let's talk about it.

In this entry:

• The Seattle premiere I'm missing, and the truly delusional itinerary I almost attempted

• The beast of a launch: a custom course and credentialing platform layered into a Circle community

• Put-on-your-big-girl-pants decisions, when the business you love keeps you from people you love

• The nervous flyer honesty: why what it costs YOU belongs in the decision

• Something to noodle on: when two things you love pull against each other, how do you decide?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, client launches, hard founder decisions, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

Accountability buddy check-in. Last week I told you I was making some changes, and around here we keep our word. Today was day one, and I'm recording this fresh off of it: yoga, deep breaths, Bucky's walk, and a slightly later arrival at the desk where, it turns out, the world did not end. It's just day one, of course. But you have to have a day one. That's the whole point.

In this entry:

• Day one of the new morning: yoga, stretching, deep breaths, and one very happy puppy

• Getting to the desk later than usual, and the world not ending

• Pumping the brakes on the day-one glow (the real story is Thursday)

• Why every effortless-looking habit started with an unremarkable day one nobody clapped for

• Accountability buddies, report in: has your day one happened yet?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, founder wellbeing, building new routines, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

Friends, it's Friday, and I have an announcement that is going to sound very silly: I left my house this week. If you work from home, you know. I typically hit my desk and that's it, all day, coming up for air, more coffee, and bathroom breaks. But this week I had coffee out with a colleague, got sun on my face, and remembered what the hustle and bustle does for you. And I want to be honest about the other side of it too, because it is hard for me to people.

In this entry:

• The desk-coffee-repeat rotation of working from home

• Coffee with a colleague, and the whole-body good of being out in the world

• The honest part: peopling takes activation energy, even when the people are wonderful

• The paradox: the thing that drains me to start is the thing that fills me up

• Something to noodle on: when's the last time you left the house for no urgent reason?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, working from home, founder wellbeing, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

On Thursdays, we take Bucky to dog training. And let's be honest about what dog training actually is: it's not training for the dog, it's training for us. The whole game is consistency, everybody on the same playbook. And friends, I've been sitting with that all week, because I'm actively trying to become a better leader and get my processes in place, and I feel like I run out of time every single week.

In this entry:

• Thursday dog training, where Bucky is thriving and the humans are the project

• Why the dog isn't confused because he's a bad dog (the team hasn't agreed on the playbook)

• The quiet work that keeps losing to the loud work

• What puppy training taught me about building processes: ten minutes a day, not a magical free week

• Something to noodle on: what's your quiet work, and what's its ten-minutes-a-day version?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, leadership, processes and consistency, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

We just wrapped my last Founder's Table call, the mastermind Circle has been hosting for a few of us community builders all summer. And the final question we sat with, what would you tell yourself at the beginning of this?, cracked something open. Because at the start of the summer I felt like I was talking to the void. And remember that email I cried about at my desk in Entry 005? It's signed, friends. I can finally tell you.

In this entry:

• The last Founder's Table call, and the question that landed hardest

• The talking-to-the-void season: plugging away while everyone else gets their flowers

• The news: I've officially signed a partnership with Circle 🎉

• Co-hosting weekly live AI sessions with Mathilde, Circle's head of community, through August and September

• Something to noodle on: what would you tell yourself from the beginning of this year?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, partnerships, the long game of being seen, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

Today we're talking about being tired. I've found myself going, going, going, and by the end of the day I'm exhausted, physically, emotionally, mentally, and just not the person I want to be. So I made a plan, and here's the fun part: I recorded this last week, and the changes start now. As you're listening, it's already happening. And I want you to be my accountability buddy.

In this entry:

• The checked-out-by-evening feeling, and deciding to change it

• The new morning: a real workout, Bucky's walk, and something in the morning that's for me

• Curbing the people-pleasing reflex of replying to everything immediately

• The confession: I haven't really been eating dinner, and that changes now

• Something to answer: who's with me? What's your one change?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, founder wellbeing, sustainable routines, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

We kicked off the challenge inside the community this week and held our first live session, and it did not go the way I planned. I set it up as a co-working session, mic on, ready to help everyone through their voice guides. And then the questions just... didn't come. Friends, we went and innovated ourselves right out of anybody needing our help. So strange, right?

In this entry:

• Our first live challenge session, and why live sessions are some of my favorite things

• The interactive workbook (and the fill-in-the-blanks Molli made even cooler)

• What it feels like when nobody needs you, one part sad, one part excited

• Something to noodle on: where could you bake the help in so people don't get stuck at all?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, live sessions, member experience design, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.